1.Everyone shall possess the right to freely express and publicise his thoughts in words, images or by any other means, as well as the right to inform others, inform himself and be informed without hindrance or discrimination
2.Exercise of the said rights shall not be hindered or limited by any type or form of censorship
Constitution of the Portuguese Republic, Article 37.º

Maddie's Process Might be Reopened

Ana Paula Rito substitutes Paulo Rebelo as the director of the Portimão's PJ

Woman Takes Maddie Case

Licensed in Law, Ana Paula Rito, an experienced investigator, will lead the PJ of Portimão. It is her who will follow the leads in Maddie Case.

by Luís Maneta

If Maddie's process is reopened, it will be a woman commanding the police investigation to the circumstances of the disappearance of the English girl. Investigator of the PJ at Faro, Ana Paula Rito was nominated as coordinator of the Criminal Investigation Department [DIC] of Portimão, a position hold up to now by Paulo Rebelo, the man who replaced Gonçalo Amaral.

Licensed in Law, Ana Paula Rito is in the words of her colleagues, a 'determined' woman, 'competent' and one of the 'most experienced' criminal inspectors of the PJ, with a career of more of ten years at the Directorship of Faro.

Adjustments in the Direction

"If the Public Ministry [MP], decides to reopen the Maddie case, at the front of the investigation will be one person that has all the guarantees of making an excellent work. We are talking about one investigator with several years within the Police", said Carlos Anjos, the ASFIC/PJ union president.

José Brás chose as assistants Vítor Alexandre and Paulo Rebelo, who, in this way, returns to Lisbon without being able to unravel the most mediatized case in the last years.

Guilhermino Encarnação, lynched by media in 2007

Guilhermino Encarnação, a joint national director, responsible for the Directory of Faro at the moment when Madeleine McCann disappeared, may be the next confirmed casualty in this case. The man who became known in the investigation for having prevented Gonçalo Amaral from carrying out the interrogation of Kate McCann at a moment when she was, according to several inspectors who were present on location, “ready to talk”, has been on long-term leave due to health issues and is not returning to active anymore. in The Many 'casualties' of the Maddie Case

Described by Guilhermino Encarnação, up to now director of the Judiciary Police of Faro, as "someone who does not like media exposure", Ana Paula Rito saw herself involved in a case* where the MP accused her of violation of the secrecy of justice. In question where declarations made to the media (she read a statement) relative to the solution of an abandoned baby inside a shopping cart of a shopping centre in Faro, in May 2005. The case was closed last year and Ana Paula Rito was exonerated.

The Team is all New

Paulo Rebelo shakes hands with Alípio Ribeiro

With the return of Paulo Rebelo to Lisbon all the men that lead the investigation to Maddie's disappearance are 'out of scene'. The first to go was Gonçalo Amaral, removed in October 2007. To his place was nominated the then national assistant director, Paulo Rebelo. Now, it's the turn of a woman, Ana Paula Rito, to show what she is worth. The alterations in the PJ's hierarchy include the substitution of Guilhermino Encarnação at the Directorship of Faro. To his place it will go the deputy attorney general Luís Manuel Maia Mota Carmo, up to now placed in Tavira.

The case of the Inspector Ana Paula Rito resulted from a complaint of the Public Ministry (MP) for the alleged breach of the confidentiality of the investigation. It started with the release of a Judiciary Police communiqué on the arrest of the mother of a baby with few months which was abandoned. The child was found in a shopping cart in the car park of the Forum Algarve in Faro, in April 2004. Clarifications were requested from the PJ, after the case was solved, and the inspector made a statement to the press, since it was a case that raised social alarm. The MP felt that details were disclosed than those permitted, and advanced with a criminal process. The Inspector was absolved.